OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC in its newly published monthly has maintained a rise in its oil demand forecast.
According to the Organization, there would be a strong world oil demand recovery in 2021 led by the United States and China.
“Overall, the recovery in global economic growth, and hence oil demand, are expected to gain momentum in the second half,” it said.
It said demand would rise by 6.6% or 5.95 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, unchanged for a second consecutive month.
The report however warned of significant uncertainties such as the potential emergence of new variants of the coronavirus.
“Global economic recovery has been delayed due to the resurgence of COVID-19 infections and renewed lockdowns in key economies, including the Eurozone, Japan and India,” OPEC said in its monthly report.
Although the United States is expected to make the biggest contribution to 2021 demand growth, OPEC said demand in industrialised OECD nations would not fully recover from the 2020 collapse.
Brent international climbed above $72 a barrel after the report was released.
OPEC sees 2021 world economic growth at 5.5%, unchanged from last month, assuming the impact of the pandemic will have been “largely contained” by the beginning of the second half.
“The ongoing vaccination efforts, growing share of recovered cases leading to increasing herd immunity, and the easing of lockdown restrictions lend optimism that the pandemic could be contained in the few months to come,” OPEC said.